2008 Stats, Earnings, & More

Closing Out 2008

It’s almost time to say good-bye to 2008 and welcome in a shiny New Year! As I was closing out my year and taking stock of what I’ve done and where I want to go, I realized that the earnings and traffic stats I was analyzing would be VERY beneficial to others who want to know the truth about making money online. I don’t mean to phrase it that way to be “hypey” – I say it that way to be honest. So let’s take a look at my 2008 stats, talk about my earnings, and take a look back at the year as a whole. While I am NOT one to go boasting about stats and earnings, I figure if this will help even ONE person get a clear understanding about how all this really works, I will feel this post was worth it.

This is most likely my longest post EVER. Not only have I had too much time to think and not enough time to post lately, I also have a lot to share with you. In 2009, we are going to ROLL, but we first need to get our perspective and our expectations straight.

Making Money Online – A Visual

Before I get to rambling, I want to show you a graph. This is a traffic graph of my blog here at PotPieGirl.com. It shows my traffic stats from the first day I received any traffic (8-2-2007).

That image speaks volumes to me. I can take one glance at that graph and tell you – SHOW you – why people quit trying to make money online.

Now, I know this is just a graph of traffic here to PotPieGirl.com, but as I looked at it I realized that graph totally represents the path we take when we go from learning how to make money online to the other side and actually DOING IT consistently.

Yes, in the beginning it is hard. It’s rare to see results and when you DO see results (ie, SALES), they seem to come inconsistently. BUT, if you keep moving forward, all your work snowballs and it all comes together.

** I was tired of trying to find ways to trade a lot of my time for a little bit of money from someone else – while my time made that someone else a lot more money than I ever would receive.

** I was tired of believing that the only way to make more money was to give up MORE of my TIME. There had to be a way my time spent working eventually worked for ME and involved LESS time working on my part.

** I was tired of relying on child support that came sporadically at best. In fact, I was plain tired of relying on someone else for financial things or to just make ends meet.

** I was tired of trading all my time for money and then barely being able to pay the bills with nothing left over.

** I was tired of believing that I needed someone ELSE to sign a paycheck to me or that someone ELSE got to determine how much I was worth.

** I was tired of the “survival mode” mentality that plagued me for so many years. (Any of you that are or have been a single mom or single dad may TOTALLY understand that statement). I was no longer content to just get by day to day.

Above all, I was blessed with a second chance in my personal life relationship-wise and I ended up with a wonderful spouse who brought two awesome kids into my kids and my life. I wanted a bright shiny future for the 6 of us – not a two-career household with parents that were always gone and were living paycheck to paycheck.

On my 40th birthday I realized that if there was anyone who could change things for me – it was ME. If I wanted financial freedom, I was gonna have to go GET IT and MAKE IT happen for myself.

So, I did.

Learning How To Change My Financial Future

From February 2007 until August 2007, I learned how to turn my efforts and my time on my computer into money. During that time I mainly followed the same thing I teach in One Week Marketing tho I was also tweaking it as I went along.

As I saw things working for me I became more and more passionate about telling others and SHOWING others how to do what I was doing. I’ll admit that I wanted to start a blog long before August 2007, but I was intimidated. What the heck would *I* have to say? Heck, I was new, too – what good advice did *I* have to share? Who the heck would READ it anyway? So I kept putting it off even though I was exploding inside from wanting to tell EVERYONE that if they have a computer and an internet connection, they can change their financial future.

If you look at that graph, you can see the Jan 5 marker and you can see that things went up from there. So did my earnings =) I started making niche sites in late 2007 and those earnings combined with all my One Week Marketing campaigns were all starting to come together. My earnings became consistent. In fact, that is when I started making as much as I probably would have made if I went out and got another JOB working for someone else. At that time I would say that I was making about $100 a day, give or take, and that was a big improvement from earning $50 a day online.

$100 a day was my target number. I knew if I earned that amount on average per day that I would be able to continue doing this whole make money online thing.

What That Graph Represents To Me

Let’s look at that traffic graph again. As I said, the graph is actually of traffic to this blog, but it really represents how making money online progresses and snowballs if you keep moving forward.

As you can see, I added some graphics to the graph this time. These lines I added are to show you something you need to know. If you are looking to build an online income with affiliate marketing or any form of internet marketing, this is what you need to be prepared for.

That red line? That red line represents the earnings I needed for my online business to be my sole source of income. As you can see, there are a solid 6 months where I was not earning that target amount. During that time I could have easily just gone out and got a JOB and be making that amount every day. If I just went and got a job, my earnings line would be flat. I would have been earning that amount from the “git-go” and it would’ve flat-lined all the way across as I earned the same amount every day.

Make sense?

Ok, now, the orange line is the time period when I hit my target amount consistently. It took those 6 months to get there (and yes, we could say it actually took a year to get there since I was working online before those stats start. I could’ve shaved a good bit of that time off by joining Wealthy Affiliate when I was trying to learn all this mumbo-jumbo, but I was too darn stubborn and thought it was smart to not spend ANY money on my new business plans. That was dumb on my part – that time I spent was worth WAY more than a measly $1 a day. Oh well, live and learn….lol).

Ever heard me say,

“If you’re willing to do for a year what others WON’T,

you can spend a life time doing what others CAN’T”?

Well kids, I am walking, talking proof of that. I practice what I preach…lol!

The blue line? Yes, that blue line represents the “spend a life time doing what others CAN’T” part.

If I didn’t work my butt off during the “purple phase”, I never would have hit the “orange phase”. It took all of the purple and the orange time to hit this magical blue phase.

The Phases Of Making Money Online

If I had quit and given up on all this in the purple phase just so I could hit that red line, I would never be here in the blue phase way ABOVE the red line, would I?

What I am trying to get across is this – in the purple phase, you are the work horse. You work and you work and you see very little for your efforts.

In the orange phase, you become a race horse. You develop skill and power…..and it finally clicks as you turn it all into high-performing campaigns. You start to win races (finally).

In the blue phase, I guess you are the race track owner and you have ALL those work horses and race horses working for YOU. You’ve got winners in a LOT of races!

But if you quit in the purple phase, or try to take short-cuts to avoid the purple phase, you lose.

If you MUST have that red line coming in, get a job or freelance your work to make that number, BUT still work on your purple phase – you must go through it.

If you spend all day online looking for the magical answer to buy a short cut to the orange phase OR the blue phase, you lose. Odds are strong that you must spend your time below the red line before you can put it all together and get way ABOVE the red line.

Nothing, I repeat, NOTHING will do it FOR you.

When you get frustrated – remember that silly graph of mine with the colored lines and keep moving forward.

PotPieGirl Stats – 2007 vs 2008

Ok, most of you know I am not a big “Look at me and look how much money I make” type blogger. I don’t make money online by telling others how much money I make online. I make money online by WORKING to set up campaigns that provide passive income streams back to me. I also make money online by sharing what I know with others that WANT to do what I do.

However, I know numbers and stats can be inspiring for others and I am all about inspiring others to make money online! So, I am going to share some of my 2008 earnings in comparison to last year (2007) just to give you an idea of what it’s like getting to the blue phase.

PotPieGirl Earnings and Stats For 2008

AdSense Earnings – +712 % from 2007

Amazon Earnings – +209 % from 2007

Clickbank Earnings – +2214 % from 2007

Commission Junction Earnings –+6069 % from 2007

eBay Affiliate Earnings –+2045 % from 2007

Squidoo Earnings – +166 % from 2007

I have also added quite a few private affiliate programs in 2008 that I didn’t have in 2007. These private programs alone earned in 2008 what I earned in ALL of 2007.

PotPieGirl.com Blog Stats

Blog Page Views – +1214 % from comparable time frame in 2007 (blog was not active all of 2007 to compare a full year)

Blog Unique Visitors – +1130 % from comparable time frame in 2007

Alexa Rank – This one tickles me a little =) When I moved this blog to my own hosting and WordPress in January 2008 (almost a year ago), I had an Alexa Rank of 3 millions something. Now, in case you are not familiar, Alexa ranks all the websites in the world. #1 is the best Alexa Rank for a website meaning it is the most popular website in the WORLD (according to Alexa).

As I said, a year ago this blog had an Alexa rank of 3 MILLION something. Today, this blog has an Alexa Rank of 62,837. When I stop for a second and think of all the websites in the WORLD and that my blog is in the top 100,000 of all the websites in the WORLD – well, that makes me giggle a little….lol That’s like a 5000% increase in a year. Pretty nifty.

In fact, in February 2007, there was not a single instance of PotPieGirl when you searched for it 0n Google. Nothing…nada….zilcho. Today? 437,000. Four-hundred and thirty-seven THOUSAND. Crazy, isn’t it? Better yet, Google doesn’t think PotPieGirl is a typo anymore! WooHoo for THAT little victory!

Always had money left over after paying all our bills (AND we have money in savings)

Took a 10 day beach vacation with all our kids AND my oldest two each brought a friend. All paid for – nothing on credit card.

Hubby and I took another vacation in November. We went to a casino resort and yes, we gambled. ALL paid for – nothing on credit card.

Christmas? Not a dime on credit card and it was a WAY better Christmas than we’ve had in a long time.

Remember those nasty gas prices not too long ago? Not a problem for me – I work at home. In fact, we bought a Ford Expedition during that time (heck, the market was GREAT for those gas guzzlers and I LOVE a big SUV…. it also TAKES a big SUV to get the pack of us around in one vehicle…lol)

On January 5, 2008, my 17-year old daughter starts her college classes (yes, she’s young….but she’s determined, like her mama! haha!)

In May 2009, my son will be getting MARRIED!

Other than feeling older than dirt, I have not stressed over these two major life events (ok, I haven’t stressed about the FINANCIAL aspect of those two major life events….lol!!)

In all honesty, the worst “stress” I have now about this whole make money online thing is when I wake up after having this odd dream I have now and then. I dream that the internet is gone. Yes, POOF, gone – never to return. Now THAT stresses me out when I have THAT dream! haha!

Other than that, no real stress to speak of. I spent my purple and orange time putting my eggs in LOTS of different baskets. If one egg breaks, there are plenty of others to compensate while I regroup.

In 2009, I plan to create a lot more NEW eggs on the internet in new online “baskets” – I hope YOU plan to do the same thing. I’ve been quietly testing many things from my humble office here in Atlanta and I hope to share some neat strategies with you as we ring in 2009. (That picture is of my new desk/monitor set up here… dual monitors ROCK! The third is my laptop)

Summing Things Up

Yes, FINALLY I am going to shut up…lol!

Look, if you’re in the “purple” phase, don’t give up. In fact, don’t even waste your time getting frustrated. Just close your eyes for a moment and imagine YOUR future graph. See that red line you want to hit….then see your stats way ABOVE that red line. Then, get back to work and make sure your purple time is PRODUCTIVE time. When I say “productive”, I mean this – get campaigns, articles, blog posts, etc OUT there on the internet.

Reading about doing it will not get you to the orange phase. Talking about doing it will not get you to the orange phase. Complaining about it won’t help either.

Worst of all, beating yourself up because you’re not already IN the orange phase won’t do a damn bit of good. Only productive efforts will get you there.

Remember, 95% of us quit and only about 5% of us make it thru the purple phase and start making REAL money online. If it was easy, EVERYBODY would be doing it, but the reality is, only the tough survive.

I can’t wait to see who the 5% are that at this time next year! 2009 will be great!

I look forward to spending more time doing what I love to do – testing new ideas and sharing them with my awesome readers.

Happy New Year!

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42 Comments

What a wonderful blog post! And I amazed to see your growth! My income in 2008 also growing but not as skyrocket as you. My earning also not as much as you, but it’s great for 21 years old girls like me 🙂 Enough for saving in my future, and make a living in my country

Your son gonna be married? Congratulation to him! I wish he will had a happy life after married to the girl he love.

Thanks, Cowy! Sounds like your year has been great for you too – congrats!

BTW, I love your desk set-up – it’s so cute!

Happy New Year!

Jennifer

Wendy Little-Yohe

Hi Jennifer!

I turned 40 this year and I can totally relate to this post! Must be something magical about that number.

I’ve been working for other people since I was 16 – and no more!! It’s time for ME!

I’m firmly entrenched in the “purple phase” but, thanks to you and One Week Marketing, I know the “blue phase” is just around the corner.

THANK YOU for helping me see that and for making OWM available! You’ve been an answer to a prayer!

PotPieGirl

Wendy – Yes, 40 can be motivating, can’t it? 😉

Hang in there and keep moving forward thru the purple phase!

Happy New Year!

Jennifer

GatorWade

Great job Jennifer! Because of YOU I am part of that 5%! I bought One Week Marketing at the end of Oct. and officially started it on Nov. 3 of this year.

My monthly daily average for income in December is $32.00/day. Meaning it was lower earlier in the months and is now over $60/day the past 7 days! I have finished seven weeks total!

Thank You is not enough! But Thank You!

-Wade

PotPieGirl

“Great job Jennifer! Because of YOU I am part of that 5%! I bought One Week Marketing at the end of Oct. and officially started it on Nov. 3 of this year.

My monthly daily average for income in December is $32.00/day. Meaning it was lower earlier in the months and is now over $60/day the past 7 days! I have finished seven weeks total!

Thank You is not enough! But Thank You!

-Wade”

Wade! That is SO AWESOME!!! Congrats to you!!!! Now you are the wonderful place where things start to build up and snowball. Also, a BIG congrats to you for not only READING the One Week Marketing Action Plan, but for DOING IT!!! That alone, makes you a 5% ‘r!!!!!

What a great post to end the 2007 year…………………..thanks for the wonderful inspiration that you always bring!

And thank you for your realness and honesty…………..always a breath of fresh air!

I plan to be one of those 5% you’ll see next year:-)

A prosperous 2009 to us all!

PotPieGirl

Candice – I think it is VERY important to “keep it real” online. We are all surrounded and bombarded with so much hype claiming that this is all so easy and so fast. Once we tackle the learning curve, things get MUCH easier, but it all still requires effort and time. I can’t wait to hear YOUR 5% story this time next year!

Happy New Year!
Jennifer

Ivona

Hi Jennifer,
Thanks for sharing your success story. I love to read your posts. It feels really good to know that it is possible for the regular person to make it online. If not for your support and people like you, it would be hard to work towards this “blue line”. Your reassurance makes a difference. Thanks again and all the best in 2009.

PotPieGirl

Ivona – You’re welcome! Keep working towards your blue line – I know you can do it! Thank you so much for reading and for your very kind words!

You DO know, don’t you Jennifer, that you DO have that “something special”?
Anyway – I will keep plugging away at all of this – if for nothing else than to make “your” 5%!!
Thanks for the great inspirational post.
Anne

PotPieGirl

Wow, thanks Anne! How sweet!

Please keep trudging away. Anything really worth having is worth the effort and determination to have it!

Happy New Year!
Jennifer

Di McDonald

Hi Jen,
This posting of yours has come at just the right time for me. I was feeling unmotivated and wondering what to do next.

This has helped me a great deal as I have been plugging along since feb 2008. Although I have had some success, I was feeling pretty uninterested.

Seeing your graph has made me realize that I am nearly through the purple period and I need to plug back in , get my head down and my butt up and make this the most productive year ever as this will be where the real rewards will come about.

I have been expanding my baskets and will now continue on consolidating everything.

You must have been reading my mind Jen as this post has helped me so much. Thanks again from the bottom of my heart. And as for your mantra……..I am going to borrow it for myself. Thanks heaps
Di
BTW………..very interesting about the duel monitors!
Can you explain how exactly they help?

PotPieGirl

Hi Di!

Keep at it, girl! I KNOW you’ve worked too hard to give up now!

As for the dual monitors….. my mouse reaches from the far side of one monitor all the way across the other monitor. I can have two browsers or windows open, and be able to SEE them, at the same time. Ever been working on something and have to go back and forth between browser tabs? This way, I don’t have to do that. I can have my work on one monitor and a forum, or my Twitter, or my email open on the other.

Thanks Jennifer. I started using the wordpress theme optimized for keywords that you suggested, and have started to see regular daily income with adsense. I’m still at the wall of the learning curve with tech issues, and work through that daily! I know you used this theme for your aloe vera site, how did you get your posts to display correctly? Or are the “aloe vera articles” pages, not posts? My pages display the second, far right column correctly, but with the posts the far right column disappears to the bottom of the page… I checked by loading the software to a brand new site that I’m just starting, but it won’t work there, either! By the way, http://www.aloeverahealthbenefits.info/ is looking lovely!
Thanks,
Penny

Great to hear your niche sites are earning you some money! That’s wonderful!

Those posts on my site are actual posts (not pages). Not exactly sure what you mean about getting them to “display correctly” tho (?). I added images in and I also used the “more” function when writing the post so only part of it would show on the main page. Is that what you’re talking about?

What a GREAT post! Unfortunately I had to stop reading it half way through —to wipe the tears from my eyes.

Although I have achieved what others might call success in my field, I have a burning desire to build an internet business that will provide the income I desire along with some free time to enjoy life. At age 62 it’s about time.

I have been working to that end for about 4 years – but without much success.

Then someone directed me to PotPieGirl. For that I will be ever thankful. Your well written materials and personal interest in the success of others is exactly what I needed.

And when I read this post and saw your graphs the tears began to flow. Tears of joy. For now I realize how close I finally am to my goal.

Keep up the outstand work.

May God bless you even more in 2009.

PotPieGirl

Jon –

What an amazing comment for me to wake up to – THANK YOU!!!

I have no doubt that you ARE so close – 2009 will be great for you! Keep getting those web pages online and keep moving forward.

Hi Jenifer,
Wow! what a wonderful story. You reminded me, I am so scared that I am going to turn 30 this year and I haven’t done anything with my life!. Anyways congratulations. You are a very generous person, extraordinary (let me say different than most people in a good way) and full of knowledge.Got your OWM and made 4 sales already with only 3 lenses within a month. I am losing my job on 01/30/09 but have a 4 month pay. I have an I”M experience and not really planning to look for another job. am ready to work my butt off for those 4 months to earn enough money for my bills and kids before the company’s last paycheck.
Thank you thank you and God bless you in all areas.
Erick N.

Kay

Hi PotPieGirl,
I just want to say thanks…. it probably sounds corny but I believe the old “when the student is ready the teacher appears” quote… and here you are!! I have tried many times before to make money online and now I am getting there. I think its because you just give it to us straight – you say it takes work and more work and more work – but you just have to KEEP GOING!!! And, having read this post I think I have really found out why you have clicked so much with me… we share the same birthday!!! And… I am turning 50 next week – I think this is my turning point (I’m ten years behind but oh well!! LOL!) So THANK YOU for coming into my life! I KNOW I’m going to make it this time – you inspire me so much!!
I wish you all the best and I hope to update you in the coming months with my success!!! Thanks again!

Kay

PS: Aquarians rule!!!

Josh

Absolutely fantastic, Thats very motivating and I thank you very much.

Very inspirational as always and Dual Monitors do Rock I don’t know how people can make it with just one I’ve been using duals for years and want to add two more. hehehe

Robert in Minnesota!

Nice blog post PPG!

What this does is paint a picture of what people should expect in their beginning endeavors in the Internet Marketing world. It’s easy to get bought into the whole aspect of IM, but knowing what to do is hard, then even harder to realize… is that once a person has begun, there will be hardships to endure along with sweat equity to get their business up and running successfully.

Your post here is inspiring because it’s like coming to a fork in the road, but you’ve blatantly placed a sign telling which way to go and what to expect ahead!

Keep it up Jennifer. It’s nice to have someone out there pointing the way.

Robert in Minnesota!

P.S. “Hope you liked the mp3!”

Cynthia

Hi Jennifer!
Thanks so much for this post. Informative as always! I am thoroughly entrenched in the purple phase, but looking forward to the blue phase. I am putting as much time into IM as I can, still have to work to bring money in, so it is not easy, but with your much appreciated help and inspiration, I will do it. I also believe in the old saying “when you are ready, the teacher will appear.” I am getting OWM this week.
Thanks again for all your info!
~Cyn

Jennifer, thank you for emailing this to me. What a great inspiration. Gosh I can’t even remember what I was doing when I was 40, hey, it was more than a quarter of a century ago! But, you know what, I know where I am headed now. I don’t know how you do it, but you seem to have this knack of reaching people. It must have something to do with the fact that you are willing to share some very personal things with us all. You have that “Mom” effect on us.
Again, my sincere thanks.

Anne

Powerful stuff! A picture is worth many words. Thank you, Jennifer, you are a great teacher, inspiration and friend.

Can’t wait for the next. Your son looks like a very sweet boy. Handsome too. Tell him I wish him all the best..

Mary

Deborah Hezlewood

You are truly an inspiration to us all… stay at home mums, 40+’s and anyone starting out in article marketing. You say it like it is, not in any fancy techie terms and you add your own personal twist. It’s that personal touch that does it for me, when I read your emails, articles etc, it’s like you are writing to me and nobody else. Keep up the great ‘job’!

Margaret

Hi Jennifer.

With all the limitations put on to what can be promoted on Squidoo July @09, I’m feeling a bit dispondant! They have already branded one of my 5 star rated lens as spambait.

Hello Jennifer
I am finding out more of your information and it really is excellent / helpful / informative!
Many thanks
Mike

gina

Hi

I just became aware of PotPieGirl and One Week Marketing. This post is part of my homework. I am doing research to ensure that this is on the up and up. You can say I am very cautious and want to know the whole truth and nothing but the truth before investing.

I have been very impressed with all the information you have shared.

Miss Jennifer, aka PotPieGirl, if you would send me a personal email, not a universal generated one, I would then be able to conclude my research.

Hi Jennifer,
This is an awesome post. Just when I needed the inspiration. Just lost my full time job and am getting back into the whole IM thing.

You wouldn’t believe the responses from friends and family when I say I am going to “make money on the internet” . It’s like , oh you poor thing … that is so foolish. Even though in 2005 I lived off the income on one of my sites I had on Modular Homes. That was until the dreaded google slap.

Now I am rededicating myself to get back online and make some serious money. Your post (both inspirational and informational) are the ones I am using for most of my education now. Please keep up the good work and know you ARE appreciated by the many people you are helping.

P.S. I got the “One Week Marketing” guide and am taking the first steps to implement it. Will let you know my progress in a later email.

Thank’s neighbor! What an awesome post! You always have a way of inspiring me and to keep me going forward! You are just about the only reason that I feel that you can make a honest living on the internet without investing a fortune.(I have chased a lot of pipe dreams).You have taught me how to do things on line and keep m moving forward. One of the biggest things for me is to quite buying everything that pops up(and that’s a lot of stuff) and to stay focused on the plan that you have laid out. I still hope back and forth from you to Wealthy Affiliate and do chase almost everything that comes in from Kyle & Carson but it all ties in together. So my plan is to hold on long enough to make it past the purple line and start bringing in some $$$. I cannot thank you enough for your help and inspiration and I honestly think I probably would have given up by now (or be flat broke) if it were not for you (and the man above). He has convinced me to listen to you and to keep working hard and that is what I intend to do! Thank You again for all of your advice and inspiration. Moe in Alpharetta

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